one interview you won't want to miss. chris cuomo interviews amanda knox. can pieces of the puzzle in this bizarre murder-mystery finally fall into place? watch "amanda knox the unanswered questions" tonight at 10:00 eastern. that's it for me. i'm jake tapper. i will now turn you over to wolf blitzer in "the situation room." >> thanks very much. in an astonishing rescue, a neighbor hears screams and three young women are freed from a cleveland home after a decade of captivity. the suspects three middle aged brothers. you'll hear the home owner described as a regular guy but also hear about some very bizarre incidents that raised suspicions. and what comes next? i'll talk about the healing process with elizabeth smart, who was also kidnapped as a teenager and held for nine months. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room."

a truly extraordinary story unfolding in cleveland this hour, one with the kind of ending that rarely happens. three women, amanda berry, georgina dejesus, and michele knight are all alive in their family's arms right now after vanishing some ten years ago. we're getting our first look at the suspects in custody. all brothers including former school bus drivers ariel castro who owns the home where the women were held. the fbi says they could be charged as soon as tomorrow or thursday. authorities say they have no prior indication anything suspicious was going on inside the home but a few neighbors recall hearing yelling in recent years and in one incident a naked woman walking in the back yard. it all started late yesterday with amanda berry's panicked 911 phone call just moments after a heroic neighbor helped her break

free. >> cleveland 911. do you need -- >> hello police. help me. i'm amanda berry. >> do you need police, fire, or ambulance? >> i need police. >> okay. what's going on there? >> i've been kidnapped and i've been missing for ten years and i'm here. i'm free now. >> straight to brian todd on the ground in cleveland, you spoke with the neighbor who let amanda berry into the home where the 911 call was made. what did you hear? >> wolf, a riveting account of those moments when amanda berry's freedom essentially first came to her when she got out of this house, came across the street. we'll give you a look at the house right now. fbi agents pretty much still just all around the place. they sent in k-9 teams, towed away a vehicle, they took out the front door a short time ago, as well. a lot of activities still at the house. now back to the neighbor. this woman was there when amanda berry ran across the street

frantic, needing to call 911. she described the scene through a translator. she doesn't speak english. she described the scene when amanda berry got to the front porch and explained what she needed. take a listen. >> translator: i was going to go inside but then the police car arrived and when she saw it she went down there and asked him to help her. she told him there were more people inside the house. that is when they broke down the door. >> tell us what amanda berry was like when she came here. was she screaming? what was she dressed like? how did she speak? >> translator: she was very nervous and crying a lot. my little girls came crying saying, mommy, mommy. daddy, daddy. they were inconsolable. she was wearing a sweat shirt and ribbon in her hair. >> what was going through her mind when that happened? trnchs i sat down and put my hands on my head because i was not expecting that. how could it be that a man who

used to say hello, used to come over here? you couldn't notice anything about him. he just lived there. >> reporter: what can she tell us about mr. castro across the street? >> translator: i saw him as a typical neighbor, someone you would see and wave back at. he would come and go. nothing unusual. he was a normal neighbor, polite, but who would just say hi with a wave. >> that's a consistent account from many neighbors that he seemed very normal. he kind of kept to himself. said hello. drew no red flags to anyone except for those, the neighbors who you mentioned, wolf, one of whom saw a naked woman in the back yard. we also have an account from one woman who saw a child back there and didn't realize there might be a child living there. but those were really the only red flags neighbors raised through the decade or so that this was going on. >> brian todd on the ground there. we'll get back to you in a moment. relatives of the suspects are also beginning to speak out. cnn's martin savidge spoke with

their uncle and has that part of the story. >> reporter: as you know there are three men in custody all brothers ages 50, 52, and 54. they are not talking but family members are. a very interesting conversation with their uncle, julio castro. >> i haven't been able to talk to immediate family other than on my phone and their reaction is surprising. everybody is surprised at what's happening. whanchts did you say to your nephews if you could talk to them? what would you want to know? >> what can i say? shame on you. >> reporter: julio castro says by the way when it was gina dejesus who went missing he gave money to try and find her. he actually helped and went out on the streets to try to locate her. he is stunned that any of his

family could have been involved in her disappearance. >> martin savidge. cnn's brooke baldwin is also in cleveland right now and spoke to a band mate of the suspect, ariel castro. how did that go? >> reporter: yeah, wolf. i talked to a man named tito dejesus and asked when you hear the last name dejesus might he have been related to gina. he said perhaps loosely but not that he knew of. he has been in contact with the family. obviously they are absolutely elated. what was unique about this interview is because he provides this very unique perspective because he has been inside of this home here on seymour avenue. he actually played many gigs with ariel castro. they were in a band together for a number of years so he talked to me a little bit about that. i asked him what the heck was ariel castro like? i want to play this part of the interview in which i asked him about that and also asked him just a couple years ago when he was inside this house he had sold ariel castro his washer and dryer and for minutes he was in

there walking around perhaps on top of these young women somewhere in this house. take a listen. >> i've known him through music. your average musician, high spirits, joking around, smiling, laughing. great talent musically. and it was a shock to me to find out that this happened. it was hard to believe. i would have never thought a million years it was him that was allegedly holding gina, amanda, and michele. >> reporter: hard to believe also because these women it sounds like might have been under your nose. you have been to this home here on seymour avenue. when was the most recent time you were here? >> i was there about two years ago when i was moving to my house from my apartment i sold ariel a washer and dryer and he asked for help to take the stuff to his help. we unloaded the stuff and went

inside for a few minutes to the living room and then, you know, i left. >> tell me in those few minutes when you were inside this home where we now know the three women and young daughter lived what did you see? >> i saw a normal environment. it didn't seem to be like a place women were being held against their will. of course i didn't go throughout the entire house. i was just at the beginning of the house and living room. it seemed normal. nothing out of place. just like a normal house. >> that was tito dejesus speaking with me a little while ago. to be crystal clear, ariel castro and his two brothers are in custody. under law here in ohio there's about a 48-hour window before they need to be officially charged and if not they can walk away. so we're watching for the charges to come down, wolf, but i've been here for the last

couple hours. i watched this activity behind me. we've seen fbi. we've seen k-9 units. brian todd was telling you we've seen the front door come down. we all heard the sound from charles ramsey, that astute passerby who heard the screams and barbed in the door. clearly, investigators would love to know the secrets this house could tell and you know they are combing through it right now trying to get to the bottom of what might have happened. >> based on what -- you see right behind you, brooke, are fbi and other law enforcement personnel going in and out. >> reporter: yeah. we've been watching for the last couple hours. it's been i would say about a dozen fbi agents. forgive me. as i turn around. they've put up this tent and i don't know if you can see over my shoulder this green tent. they put out in the last couple hours this table. we saw a number of these agents slapping on these protective suits, these white suits from head to toe like you would see in a hazmat scene.

but here, they don't know what they're walking into in this home. that's what we've seen. a lot afanasenkov tifty. helicopters up above. this is a huge news story for the cleveland area. big story here on seymour avenue. >> it certainly is. all right, brooke. thanks very much. cnn's poppy harlow just spoke with the older brother of one of the women who was just found, gina dejesus. here's what he had to say. >> in disbelief. we cried. we were shaken. we were just happy. >> reporter: tell me about gina. the younger sister, ten years younger than you, 23 now. tell me what about her sticks out to you most? >> she's like my best friend. i miss her and i'm glad she's home. >> reporter: tell me about the relationship the two of you had before she disappeared. >> like i just said, like a best friend. able to talk to her, be there for her, everything else. >> reporter: what was she like? what did she like to do most?

>> she liked dooto dance a lot, crack jokes, be with the family. >> when we come back not everyone in the neighborhood says things are normal at the suspect's home. just ahead what one person is now telling cnn about an incident apparently involving a naked woman in the back yard. plus the former host of the hit tv show "america's most wanted" john clash is here. i'll speak with him live. what he suspected for years about this case and that has turned out to be true. she is one of the few people who actually knows what it is like to be abducted and held in captivity. my live interview this hour with elizabeth smart. stay with us.

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while some neighbors say they had known the suspect ariel castro for years, and that he seemed normal, others say they did notice strange incidents at castro's house. one spoke with cnn. >> me and my friends and my sister were home. across the street at a house, like spending the night. and we seen a naked lady in the back yard. we didn't know nothing about it so we said something to her. he told her to get down. we said something to him. he told her to get in the house and he ran behind the cars and got in the house. she was just walking around. >> reporter: and naked. >> yeah. we thought that was weird. >> reporter: yeah. what sort of came to your mind? >> we thought it was funny at first and then we thought that was weird so we called the cops. >> reporter: then what happened? >> they thought we were playing and joking. they didn't believe us.

>> screams. the neighbor's courage and a 911 call is what it took to free three women from a decade of captivity. joining us is john walsh the former host of "america's most wanted" one of america's best known advocates for the missing and exploited. thanks very much for coming in. >> glad to be here. >> i'll play a clip. this is an interview you did with larry king here on cnn in 2005. i know at the time you were searching for both amanda berry and gina dejesus. watch. >> who are we looking for here? >> we don't know. she still hasn't been found this little girl. >> this is a missing girl. >> yeah. missing 14-year-old girl. >> do you presume, what do you do with stuff like this? >> well, there's another little girl, you know, missing in that six blocks from gina dejesus so the cops say they're not related. i say they are. come on. you got one 14-year-old girl and then another girl down the street six blocks away. they haven't found either girl and they have no suspects.

>> you were right. apparently the cops were wrong. what happened here? >> well, first of all, i want to say that there are two heroes here in case we don't have time to talk to it. amanda, who never gave up trying to get out, and probably motivated by this 6-year-old girl that was obviously a result of a rape or sexual abuse of amanda and charles ramsey. i just got to say i just talked to this man. >> the neighbor who burst into that door. >> he is the guy. he doesn't have a cell phone, wolf. i wanted to call him up and say you're a real hero, the kind of guy i always say can make a difference. he doesn't have a cell phone. a friend answered the phone. he goes mr. walsh i was always a fan of america's most wanted. you are my hero. i said no. you made a decision today that saved the lives of three women and a 6-year-old child. you are a hero. you got into it. you didn't think about the consequences. you made a huge difference. it's just kind of amazing, you've got these three women within this small radius and the

cops did a great job getting the -- >> the police were telling you these were unrelated. why wouldn't they conclude that two young women were abducted within a few miles of each other if that and they wouldn't think that would necessarily be related. >> because amanda berry was first listed as a run away and her mother i talked to before she died and she died i believe of a broken heart and so do the relatives because it was a day before her 17th birthday she was a run away and the parents said no. this girl got a ride home. obviously -- >> the parents never believed she was a run away. >> never. >> why would the police believe she was a run away? based on what? >> the fact that she was 17 and she didn't show up. >> did they think gina dejesus was a run away too? >> no. but they didn't say she qualified for an amber alert,

wolf. it took me three years to get the amber alert through congress to become a national call for when a child is missing. a couple mistakes were made back in those days but gina should have been an amber alert. the first year amber alerts were used 117 kids were found. in the beginning some mistakes were made but those parents never gave up. and they kept these cases going. nobody is talking about michele knight. i don't think anybody was ever looking for michele knight. >> we don't even have a picture of her yet. >> i don't think police took it serious that she possibly had been abducted. >> they just assumed she was a run away too. >> or she decided she just wanted to change her life. i've said it for years. ted bundy probably killed over 30 women. 80% of those women were listed as run aways. he was charming. he got them. he murdered them. he tortured them. i don't think you can sign the death warrant of a person by saying she is a run away. we don't care let's review. i'm sure the cleveland police are trying to do as good a job

as they possibly can. >> they are doing a great job. >> you believe they made major mistakes over these past ten years. >> i don't want to say they made major mistakes. it's human error because 90% of kids that are missing, 98% are run aways and found etcetera. it is such a difficult call and i'm hoping. the cleveland police have done a great job. they've got the three guys. i hope they get justice. law enforcement has to change this policy that because you are 18 years old you are a run away. the first four hours are crucial. a woman like michele knight please everyone said no she would never run away. >> let's learn some lessons. >> absolutely. >> what are the two or three most important lessons law enforcement out there all over the country needs to learn from cleveland? >> if you have three missing women within a five-mile radius and you get a call something is going on, get that search warrant.

i'm going to meet jaycee dugard in a moment and give her the award she so deserves as brave as she is at an event here in washington. the hope awards. how appropriate? but philip gorito violated his parole and police handcuffed him and took him to jail while jaycee was in the back yard. they never looked for her in the back yard. cops have to take this business deadly serious when you have three cases within a five mile range. and that people can make a difference. if your gut instinct is something is bad and has gone wrong, look at charles. he could have thought it was a domestic abuse case. he shouldn't do it. i'm a black man. a white woman. i could have got stabbed. but he bound up those steps and helped that woman get out and made a difference. everybody should learn from this. if you see something that makes you feel creepy call the cops. if the cops have three missing people within an area get a search warrant, do something, get in that house and then you're able to say okay. sorry. we didn't violate your civil liberties. we checked your back yard.

we checked in your house. they're not here. sorry for being a good citizen. >> some are saying well there were suspicious things but it didn't dawn on them that anything like this could be happening. it is pretty extraordinary and awful. >> but a great ending, wolf. it really proves that if you never give up hope, you'll talk to elizabeth smart. everybody gave up on that case after eight months but her parents didn't. it is going to help lots of parents of missing children. it's going to give them hope. >> i know you went through hell in 1986 when your 6-year-old adam was abducted and murdered. do you have any advice for these families? >> i say, you're lucky. it's wonderful. embrace these women. they got a tough road ahead, wolf. they need professional help like elizabeth smart did, like jaycee dugard. they don't need to go on talk shows or shows like this in all due respect. they need professional help. those families have to get them prepared for the trial. because these three guys are going to start making deals and saying i was fat and i had acne. they need justice. their families need to embrace

them. they need professional help. the cops need to do a good job and the da in prosecuting this. >> pass along all of our best. >> i will. >> we've known each other for a long time. thanks for coming in glad to do it. it is a wonderful day, wolf. >> i know you are happy. a lot of people are. up next you'll see friends and relatives of the rescued women. how they react with shock, tears, and overwhelming joy. i'll ask the former kidnap victim elizabeth smart about the healing process that these young women will now have to go through. my live interview this hour with elizabeth smart coming up. my mantra?

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we have breaking news into the situation room. we're just learning the colorado movie theater shooting suspect james holmes will plead not guilty by reason of insanity. holmes is charged with 166 counts of murder, attempted murder, and other charges in the deaths of 12 people and dozens of others injured in the july, 2012 shooting earlier there had been reports he might be willing to plead guilty in exchange for a plea bargain that would avoid the death sentence but now he has pled not guilty. apparently the prosecutor is rejecting any plea bargain with him. family and friends of the three women found alive after a decade in custody are calling this nothing short of a miracle. listen to what some of them are saying. >> so surreal it's unbelievable.

i just can't even believe this after all these years. it was right down the street from my grandmother's house. >> i'm so happy she is found. i'm sorry. >> reporter: how difficult has it been for you just wondering what happened after that? >> very difficult. i remember walking in the rain looking for her asking around. >> ten whole years and i thought about her every day and i knew she would come. i knew she would come home. >> we missed you. we cried. we shed tears but you're here. everything is okay. everything is going to be okay. we can't wait for you to come home. please let us see you. we've missed you. i love you, baby. up next the former kidnapping victim elizabeth smart knows what these three women who have just been rescued must be going through right now. she is standing by to join us live. we'll talk about the healing and the recovery process.

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happening now a neighbor talks about seeing a girl with a baby in the suspect's house and calling police without results. he tells us the story. also, elizabeth smart was kidnapped as a teenager. she joins us this hour. we'll talk about what lies ahead for these three rescued women. and the new jersey governor chris christie reveals his astonishing weight loss secret. i'm wolf blitzer and you're in the situation room. one of the rescued women from cleveland is several years older than the others. michele knight disappeared in 2002. the case quickly went cold. lisa sylvester is here trying to put details together. what do we know about this very sad situation? >> we know so much about the other two women but not a lot

about michele knight. she was reported missing back on august 23rd of 2002 and at that point had been missing for more than 24 hours. according to the police report which we have obtained she was 21 years old when she disappeared and she went by the nickname shorty. she was last seen at her mother's cousin's house. this report states that she, quote, has a mental condition and is confused of her surroundings a lot. last seeing blue shorts and a white t-shirt according to the report. it also says they checked, they did their due diligence and checked the hospitals and morgue. nothing turned up. michele's mother told "the cleveland plain dealer" her daughter had become pregnant at 17 but lost custody of her child shortly before she went missing so one theory is she simply walked away from her life. her family was always concerned with her well being though it appeared she had just vanished. in subsequent years the police tried to contact her mother and sent something called a leads

validation letter essentially checking and asking if there were any new leads to pursue in the case. her mother apparently moved out of the state to florida so the case was put on hold until new leads developed. there is absolutely no new information until yesterday when she was suddenly located. >> really happy she has been located and hope she can get her life back together with her family. indeed. like the other two women as well. what a heart breaking story. >> we know her mother is on her way from florida to ohio so we expect a very happy reunion. she has been missing since 2002. the family had no idea what happened to her. it should be a happy reunion. >> 11 years of her life. thanks very much, lisa. we'll be speaking with elizabeth smart. she knows a thing or two about what these three women are going through. this is when she was young. she was a teenager. she was abducted. she is going to be joining me live this hour.

also coming up, we'll hear from a neighbor who saw a girl with a baby in the window of the suspect's house. he tells what happened when he called police. chris christie's astonishing weight loss secret. the new jersey governor revealing what he's been up to.

many republican lawmakers remain outraged over the attack that took the life of u.s. ambassador to libya and three other americans and they promise new revelations at a critically important house hearing tomorrow. it was a very different story today in the senate. our chief congressional correspondent dana bash is joining us with the latest

details. what happened? >> reporter: wolf, i just spoke with a republican source in the house who said that at the end of the day tomorrow we expect it to be a pretty long hearing. he expects the american people will see that the state department is not giving the public enough answers and that they have not held people accountable enough for what happened in been ghazi. perhaps that is why republicans in the senate skipped the idea of pressing their points on the benghazi attacks. this confirmation hearing for libya's next u.s. ambassador is most notable for what did not happen. no tough questions for republicans about september's benghazi attack that killed the last ambassador chris stevens. in fact, virtually no senators in either party even showed up. only the chairman, top republican, and john mccain engage the nominee. >> chairman i can stop or keep going. since no one else is here. >> in an exclusive interview

with cnn deborah jones a well respected career diplomat was partly upset her confirmation hearing lacked heat. no questions from republicans? did it surprise you? i was pleased there was focus on the substance of libya. we have a lot of work to do there. >> reporter: it will be very different at wednesday's hearing featuring three state department employees including gregory hicks. republicans call him a whistle blower. >> he knew this was a terrorist attack and communicated that to the white house to the state department to anyone who would listen before, during, and after. >> reporter: republicans are ta counting on hicks to feed their central issue, why obama officials stripped out references to al qaeda. republicans have long held it was a political decision, a fear of stepping on the president's campaign message that he crippled al qaeda we want to find out who made this decision to change talking points in a way that caused the

american people to be lied to. >> reporter: another republican question? was there an administration cover up about mistakes before, during, and after the attack? and what was hillary clinton's role? she was a secretary of state but was also somebody who might run for president next time around. politics there? >> not at all. this happened on her watch. we are making no allegations specific to her but certainly have allegations directed at her key lieutenants. >> i spoke with the top democrat on the committee who said he too is interested in getting answers on benghazi. all the answers that they can. he says he's been iced out of the process. in fact he said he and other democrats have had no access to another one of the witnesses we'll hear from tomorrow, mark thompson, who is a counterterrorism official. he said that and other problems, quote, makes the work product of the committee questionable. >> do they have any idea these republicans including darrell

issa who deleted any references to al qaeda or a terrorist operation, a well coordinated attack, do they have any clue who did that? >> wolf, we back a few months ago when this issue first percolated reported that administration officials insisted it was the intelligence community that did that. the republicans simply aren't buying that as you know so i think the answer, the short answer to your question is no they don't or if they don't they're waiting to maybe reveal that at this hearing. that is definitely one of the things issa said he is going to continue to press because again he doesn't believe it was to help make sure sources have meant for it to be revealed. >> that could be explosive if revealed tomorrow. i'll be anchoring our coverage at 11:30 a.m. eastern around the benghazi hearings. coming up here in the situation room three suspects, three brothers. we're learning more about the men accused of holding these young women for a decade coming up at the top of the hour. up next, chris christie reveals

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joining us now a very special guest, elizabeth smart. she was kidnapped from her home back in 2002 at the age of only 14, held captive for nine months. her abductor brian david mitchell is serving a life sentence in prison. thanks very much for coming in. first of all, how are you doing right now? >> i'm doing so great. thank you. how are you? >> good. i'm doing fine, too. i know you must be very happy for these three women in

cleveland and you can identify you went through a horrible situation. what is it like, first of all, to be reunited with your family? what do you suspect these three women in cleveland are going through right now? >> for me it was the happiest day of my life. i can't even begin to suspect what they're going through right now but i would have to think relief, happiness, a big relief, but just excited and a chance at having your life given back to you. >> how hard is it to readjust, reintegrate yourself back into your family after a horrible ordeal and god knows you certainly did go through a horrible ordeal. >> it's different for everyone. for me it was great because i have such a supportive family, such a wonderful community. i've had so many blessings in my life. for me, i felt like it came

quickly and time really does heal so much. >> it certainly does. so what advice would you have for these three women in cleveland? >> first of all, i want them to know that nothing that has happened to them will ever diminish their value and should never hold them back from doing what they want to do. they should still follow their dreams, follow the life they wanted to have. they should still be able to have that. i also want them to know that they don't need to ever feel pressured into saying anything. take as much time as they need and if they decide never to share their story that would be okay, too. >> what do you think they should expect in the next say day or two or week or month? what are they going to be going through? >> i am sure so much of a whirl wind. there are so many legal things that have to take place. there are so many adjustments that have to be made.

going back to family. going back to freedom. to having a real life again from heaven only knows what they went through and how they managed to survive it. ten, 11, 12 years, it is incredible that they are walking away from this horrendous nightmare alive and safe today. >> when you heard they had been rescued yesterday what went through your mind? >> i am just so happy. i am thrilled. i think it's more proof that there are more miracles out there waiting to happen, more children, more women and men who are waiting to be found and that no matter how old the case may seem, no matter how cold it might be there is still hope, still a chance they will walk away and be rescued, that they will be okay. >> what helped you the most when it came to healing? >> my family, my faith in god,

and the support of the community and the prayers of so many that's made such a difference in my life. >> obviously at some point these women through a trial of these three men, these three suspects who have now been arrested. i know that's a difficult ordeal, because to a certain degree, you have to relive some of those horrible days. what's it like to have to relive that during a trial? >> i certainly wouldn't live in anticipation of this trial. my advice to them would be to live their life the way they want to. continue to move forward. and take one day at a time. and when that day of trial does come, just go in and say what you feel needs to be said, and that's all anyone can ask of them. >> i'm sure you live with this every day. you never forget about this. are there good days, are there bad days? how are you dealing with all

this? >> well, i think i'm human, i think everybody else is human. we all have good days. we all have bad days. yeah, there are some days i'm like, oh, geez, why did this happen? how am i here? but then it passes. i'm like, right, i have something i can offer because of what has happened to me, that maybe nobody else can offer. so looking back on it, yeah, i probably wouldn't say, please, i would like to go through that again, but i can say it's opened up so many doorways that otherwise wouldn't have been opened up to me, that i can be grateful for. >> you're now married with children. you can be an inspiration. would you like to meet with these three women in cleveland, just have a little private meeting with them and talk to them about what lies ahead for them, and potentially a great new world for them? >> i certainly would be honored to speak with them. but at the same time, i, more than anybody, will respect their

privacy, because i'm sure at this moment that's all probably all they want is time to regroup, time to heal, just time to move on with their life. so i would never want to intrude on their personal space. but i would be honored to speak with them if they ever would like me to. >> i may have misspoken. i know you're married, right, with no kids yet, right? >> right. married with no kids yet. >> let's hope some day you do have some kids. and i'm sure you will. let's talk a little bit about what you plan on doing now. what are you up to? you're trying to help people in a situation like this. >> i do a lot of speaking about prevention education. because it is so wonderful that these women came back today. but how much more wonderful would it be if this crime had never taken place, if these families never had to suffer and go through what they went. that's what we should be doing. i do a lot of speaking out, about prevention, about talking to your kids, about making sure

that they know that they're irreplaceable and you love them. and if something were to happen to them, that no amount of money or fame could ever replace them. so make sure they know that. making sure that they know that they have your permission, not only your permission, but your encouragement to do whatever it takes to be safe, to do whatever it takes to get away if anybody ever crosses that line. >> i just spoke to john walsh, you know him from "america's most wanted." and his advice to these three women right now, at least for the time being, avoid doing tv interviews. deal with your family, deal with your friends, but don't go on television. don't do oprah. don't do things like that. do you think that's good advice to these women? >> i do think that's good advice for these women right now. i think that they need time to go back, to be with their family. i think they need their privacy more than anything. so much has happened. and i know it's so intriguing to find out everything that

happened, but really, i don't think we have a right to dig into the nitty-gritty details. i think it's enough for the public to know that, yes, they were kidnapped, they were held for an extremely long time, but happily they are recovered and that they should have their right to move on with their life. and i think that by talking to media, and going over and over and over the story, i don't think that helps them any. not in this moment. >>ou'r a beautiful and wonderful woman, elizabeth. and i know you're going to be an inspiration to these three women in cleveland. thank you so much for sharing some thoughts with us. good luck to you. >> well, thank you. thank you so much. >> thank you, elizabeth smart, joining us from park city, in utah, where it's raining, if you heard that noise. much more in cleveland coming up at the top of the hour. when we come back, chris yist christie, makes a bold and risky move in weight loss. at the top of the hour, much more on the three men suspected

of holding these three women in that cleveland house. they are all brothers. we're going to tell you new information that we are learning. and a neighbor tells us what he and his sister saw at that house two years ago that made them call the police. girl vo: i'm pretty conservative. very logical thinker. (laughs) i'm telling you right now, the girl back at home would absolutely not have taken a zip line in the jungle. (screams) i'm really glad that girl stayed at home.

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the new jersey governor, chris christie, revealed his secret. mary snow has some details. >> for 12 weeks, new jersey governor chris christie kept his secret. but now he's talking about having weight loss surgery in february. >> the steps i've taken recently are for me, and for mary pat and the kids. and, you know, if asked about it, i would have never lied about it. but, you know, it's not anybody else's business but mine. >> a reporter did ask about it, and christie went public. he said the surgery was not an easy decision. >> it's pretty hard. you know, surgery is surgery. and you never want to approach that lightly. i certainly didn't. but on the other hand, i knew it was something i felt like i needed to do. >> the surgery was done shortly after a public furor about his

weight that started with a joke on the david letterman show. >> i'm basically the healthiest fat guy on the earth. >> and concerned about christie's ability to run for president. >> i'm worried he may have a heart attack, a stroke. almost like a tom bomb waiting to happen. >> christie fired back calling her a hack. >> if she wants to examine me, review my medical history, i'll have a conversation with her about that. until that time, she should shut up. >> christie said the publicity never had anything to do with the lap band surgery scheduled during hurricane sandy. a doctor said the procedure takes about 45 minutes. >> basically putting a belt on the upper part of the stomach. it has a balloon on it inside. >> you feel fuller faster? >> you feel fuller faster. >> christie, who turned 50 in september, said his age and his family, not his political future, played a big part in his

decision. but that's not quieting speculation about a potential white house run, especially since christie's weight did become a factor in the 2009 governor's race. corzine alluded to it. patrick murray said as governor, christie's weight isn't an issue, but he believes that will change as he runs for president. >> with 2016 looming on the horizon, i think it gave him the extra push to say, look, i don't want to give anybody a reason to think ill of me, not consider voting for me just because of the way i look physically. >> but wolf, the governor is insisting that his career did not play a role in his decision. and there's some questions he wouldn't answer. he wouldn't talk about how much weight he's already lost. or his target weight. he made it very clear that this is not a topic that he wants to talk about anymore. wolf? >> mary snow reporting. thank you. happening now, real-life

house of horrors. three brothers suspected of holding three young women captive here for a decade. we're learning new information about the suspects. what neighbors saw that raised suspicion have prompted them to call police almost two years ago. plus, a possible white house contender, as we just saw, undergoing drastic surgery to lose some weight. the new jersey governor chris christie, our own dr. sanjay gupta is here to explain the risks the new jersey governor is taking. i'm wolf blitzer. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. the world. you're in "the situation room." -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com a daring escape and the end to a decades-long nightmare, where three men were allegedly held captive in a house by three brothers in cleveland, ohio. this story is making headlines around the world. among the latest developments, all three women have been reunited with their families

after being checked out at a hospital. fbi agents in protective suits and with a search dog, they are combing the house right now. and we know that police talked to the suspect, ariel castro, at the house at least twice, once in 2000 when he reported a street fight, and back in 2004 when he left a child on the school bus he drives. but no charges were filed. and these are the three men suspected of the unthinkable crime, brothers ariel, pedro and o'neal castro. they're being held by police and will soon be charged. brian todd is in cleveland for us. brian, what do we know about these men? >> reporter: well, wolf, we're getting details from investigators about interviews. the investigators, we're told, are interviewing the women who were held. you can see behind me that they're still going through ariel castro's house. this is a major crime scene, and evidence scene right now. they brought in canine teams a

short time ago and took out some other evidence not long ago this afternoon. we're also piecing together some details about ariel castro's life from neighbors and acquaintanc acquaintances. as investigators swarm the home on seymour avenue, neighbors are trying to piece together what, when. one saw a naked woman walking in ariel's backyard, a woman who she was quickly told by a man to get back inside. another neighbor said she once saw a child there. >> strange to see a little girl up there. i started questioning people, i said, he's got a daughter. they said, no, he doesn't even have a wife. >> reporter: she now connects the dots about how ariel castro would act outside his house. >> he had a little strategy, where me and him would talk. he would start stepping out of the driveway into the street in front of the house. i would follow because i didn't know nothing was going on. >> reporter: ariel castro was arrested for domestic violence back in 1993. but the case was dismissed.

collectively since 2003, neighbors and bystanders didn't put together what castro was allegedly doing, holding three young women captive inside the house on seymour avenue. perhaps the closest authorities got to discovering something was in 2004 when a children's agency got a report and passed it to police. it was related to an incident on a school bus castro was driving. >> he either intentionally or inadvertently left a child on a bus when he returned to the depot. >> reporter: at that time police tried to make contact with someone inside castro's home and couldn't. they investigated the incident on the bus and found no criminal wrongdoing. fast forward to911 on this phone and within a couple of minutes, the police were swarming this place. he described the scene to us when amanda berry got to her

front porch. >> translator: they broke down the door. >> reporter: can you tell us what amanda berry was like when she came here? what was she dressed like? how did she speak? >> translator: she was very nervous, and crying a lot. my little girls came crying saying, mommy, mommy, daddy, daddy. they were inconsolable. she was wearing a sweatshirt and a ribbon in her hair. >> reporter: when berry called 911, she seemed to realize her window of escape might close soon. >> hello? >> how soon can the police get there? >> we're going to send them as soon as we get a car open. >> i need them now, before he gets back. >> reporter: berry seemed to indicate also she had an understanding of the outside world, telling the 911 operator, quote, i've been on the news for the last ten years. she had a sense of how much coverage her 2003 disappearance had gotten on the news. we have this just in to cnn. some items were moved from ariel

castro's house, we're told including a guitar, bass amplifier, one of the storm doors on the house, and multiple black trash bags. that is according to some observances on the scene. more people who have observed some of these items being taken out of the house. again, a guitar, bass amplifier and black trash bags. >> brian, where does the investigation go from here? >> reporter: well, charges could come as early as tomorrow. one of the police officials told me that they have about a 48-hour window to file formal charges. and also, what we're told, we're getting indications from police that this may not be the only area searched. in one of the releases this afternoon, that they sent us, they said other locations for searches are pending. they may be looking at other areas as well. >> brian todd in cleveland for us, thank you. let's get more on where this nightmare played out. tom foreman is taking a closer look at the neighborhood and the

house. what are you seeing, tom? >> wolf, you have to look at the geography of these kidnappings to understand how astonishing this story is. all three of these young women disappeared in roughly the same period of time, in roughly the same part of southwest cleveland. 2002, then 2003, and then 2004. this is an area of small businesses, apartments, some houses, all of them gone without a trace, and for ten years they mained simply vanished. and then suddenly they reappear, only three miles away from the spot where they disappeared. so what do we know about this house where they were kept, wolf? not a whole lot. as brian noted there, for most of the neighbors it was just a normal place. if you take a look at this house, what you see is a property that is very old, very small, only about 1,400 square feet in here. and it attracted very little attention because it was sealed up so tight. some people thought, in fact, that nobody even lives here.

once in a while they would see something unusual, like there was a window right up here where once one of the neighbors said, she saw a woman looking out for a period of time, and then being pulled away. then that window was ultimately covered over. what we're interested in is the inside of the house. they say they took out a bass guitar, and a bass amp. a witness tells us that he kept those in the front room up here. this is a small living room, to your left as you come in through the front door. right behind it is a small dining room. then the kitchen is back here. this is all this witness saw of the area. but we know the house has four bedrooms. so presumably most of those are upstairs, where the bathroom is also located. and as i noted, where that window was, that a woman was seen. so the big question, wolf, as we build this model over the next few days, and add in details as we get them, is really, where were these people? where were they in this house? were they kept together? and how were they kept from reaching out in this crowded neighborhood to anyone for help for so long?

>> we've been hearing, tom, i know you as well, that these women may have been held in the basement of this house. what can you tell us about that? >> yeah, as an interesting point, i talked to a guy in construction saying particularly in these old homes here, the stairs to the basement, or underneath the stairs that lead upstairs, and typically because the ground here is very soft and very sandy, they don't make big basements. it's usually only by 15 by 15 feet. it would have a water heater down there, also a furnace down there, and because of the nature of the soil, it's almost always leaky and musty and damp. and an awful, awful place to be, wolf. so if in fact they were being held there, it's a very tough place to be, and the neighbors would be right, a hard place to hear anyone who was trying to call out for help. >> tom, thanks very much. it's hard to imagine what the victims are experiencing right now. three young women, robbed of a

decade of their lives. amanda berry, gina dejesus, and michelle knight. what are you finding out, brooke, about these young women? >> reporter: wolf, when it comes to tlees three women, it's interesting to look back at the timeline. it appears that these three women were possibly plucked off the streets, one year, and then the next, and then the next. i want to begin here with amanda berry. amanda berry was all of 16 when she disappeared on april 12th, 2003. she called her sister saying she was getting a ride home from her part-time job, not too far from where i'm standing here at a burger king here in cleveland. michelle knight is now 32 years of age. she was reported missing all 22nd, 2002. a missing persons report was filed, but at the time her family believed she left on her

own. and then third is gina dejesus. she was just 14 years old when she was reported missing on april 2nd, 2004. she was last seen walking home from school. a relative says her family actually had known the man who owns this house, where these women were found, ariel castro. apparently they go a number of years back. here we are in cleveland trying to talk to people who knew these young women out here in the neighborhood, talking to some of the neighbors. but let's be specific, talking to family members, poppy harlow, my colleague is here as well, and talked to ricardo about this unimaginable happy ending. here they were. >> like a best friend. able to talk to her, be there for her, everything else. >> what was she like? what did she like to do most? >> she liked to dance a lot. crack jokes. be around the family. >> you saw gina last night at

the hospital. >> yes. >> what was that the like for you? tell me about that. >> i was very excited. i was like, i'm glad i'm able too see her. it was nine years. nine long years. i was just happy i was able to sit there and hug her and say, yep, you're finally home. >> so, wolf, finally home. we saw a paper earlier that said this nightmare is over. but if you talk to, you know, clinical psychologists as i did earlier today here on my show, he said, no, actually, this is just the beginning, wolf, of a road to recovery, psychologically speaking. this could take years, this sort of overcoming this decade. imagine, a decade of your life, gone, potential lly spent as a prisoner. now reuniting with family members. they really don't even know very well. happy ending. but a road ahead. >> so cruel indeed. brooke, thanks very much. we're going to have much more on this story. also coming up -- >> she said she heard and seen a

child and a white girl holding a child up in the window. like she needed help. >> neighbors describe a very disturbing sight at the house almost two years ago. so what happened? and dr. sanjay gupta, he's here in the situation room, we'll talk about the new jersey governor, chris christie's surprise revelation about his surprise revelation about his weight loss surgery. at and motoe insurance too. other insurance companies are green with envy. oh, no, no, no...i'm sorry, but this is all wrong? i would never say that. writer: well what would you say? gecko: well i'd probably emphasize the savings. ya know...lose that green with envy bit. rubbish. it's just a reference about my complexion. writer: but the focus groups thought that the... gecko: focus groups. geico doesn't use focus groups. uhh...excuse me. no one told me we were using focus groups. vo: geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance.

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here's what he looks like today, alongside from a picture late last year. the governor won't say how much weight he's lost so far, but he does tell reporters he did it for his family, not for politics. >> it may sound odd to some people, but this is a hell of a lot more important for me than running for president. this is about my family's future. and that' a heckf a lot more important to me than the idea of running for president of the united states. >> chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta is joining us right now. sanjay, what does mean getting a lap band surgery, if you will, what does that actually involve? >> well, what you're trying to do is you're literally trying to put a band around the stomach. so it's sort of what it sounds like. but this operation, wolf, is usually performed in what is known as a laparoscopic way. instead of a big incision, sort of up and down in the abdominal area, there are small incisions that allow laparoscopic

instruments to go in and basically put this band in around the stomach. the stomach ends up looking a little bit like an hourglass, sort of slowing down how quickly the food gets from the top of the hourglass into the bottom of the hourglass. there's something else, wolf, in terms of the mechanism. that seems to decrease the number of hunger hormones back to the brain. in addition to eating less, over time, the goal is people may feel less hungry as well with this operation, wolf. >> why would someone opt for lap band surgery as opposed to gastric bypass surgery? >> i think the biggest thing is risk. in how you look at risk. with the gastric bypass operation, it's a bigger operation. there's a larger incision, a longer operation. you're sort of connecting to the stomach a little lower down, so you're creating a small pouch of the stomach.

the tradeoff is you lose a lot more weight more quickly. so larger risk up front, but more benefit potentially up front as well. the lap band, less risky up front, but you end up losing weight a little bit more slowly. they say about 1 to 2, maybe 3 pounds a week on average in the first several months. but i think the risk/reward ratio there. >> are there any serious risks to this lap band surgery, as far as you know? >> well, you know, any time an operation like this is performed, anesthesia, the anesthesia is going to be a risk. also, unfeinfection potentially. bleeding down the road. the band is something you tighten by injecting it with saline, and you take saline out to loosen it, that band can sometimes move. it can sometimes need to be replaced, which would involve another operation. sometimes it can erode, meaning that the stomach sort of grows around the band. sometimes it just doesn't work. but there's about 30%, about a

third of the people for whom this just doesn't work at all, or they have some sort of significant problem. in people who start to cut down how much they eat, also become more active, within 18 months to three years, they can lose about half the excess weight that they have right now, wolf. >> that's pretty good. let's hope he succeeds on that front. that would be great news for him. sanjay, thanks very, very much. great news for his family as well. this was a day for the history books on wall street. the dow jones industrial average crossed a boundary, traders have never seen before. we have details of that. listen to this, an air force officer in charge of stopping sexual assaults is arrested on a sex charge. i'm a conservative investor. i invest in what i know. i turned 65 last week. i'm getting married. planning a life. there are risks, sure. but, there's no reward without it. i want to be prepared for the long haul.

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back to cleveland in a few moments. you can see the media on the scene in cleveland right now. there are new developments unfolding with the rescue of these three young women from that home in cleveland. the arrest of three brothers. we'll have much more on this story coming up in a few minutes. but there's other important news i want to get to right now, including another round of records up on wall street. lisa sylvester is here, she's got this and some of the other top stories. >> wolf, the dow industrials closed above the 15,000 mark for the first time ever. at the end of the day, the average stood at 15,056. the s&p 500 also closed at a new record high. the tech-heavy nasdaq closed down, sorry to report that, but

tomorrow is another day. in other news, at least 19 people died in a horrific accident near mexico city. a speeding gas tanker crashed and exploded with a fireball igniting vehicles and nearby homes. the truck's driver survived and was arrested. a source tells cnn the british are reviewing the number of long haul flights taken by queen elizabeth. she is 87 years old, and officials at buckingham palace announced the queen wouldn't be traveling to sri lanka for a british commonwealth meeting later this year. prince charles will go instead. and finally, becoming treasury secretary, apparently it improves your handwriting. take a look here, this is how secretary jack lew is signing documents these days. not so bad. now, it's not perfectly legible, that is a big improvement over this, yes, that loopy signature that he took plenty of flack about during his confirmation

hearing. i can do that, too. that looks like my kids' scribbles there. i think somebody said, yeah, if you're going to be treasury secretary in signing official documents, fix your signature. >> thanks very much, lisa, for that. coming up -- >> i see ariel sunday. i was at the park with my daughter. that was the first time i seen that little girl's face. and i asked, whose daughter is that? >> you're going to find out what kidnapping suspect ariel castro told this neighbor, whom he's known for 18 years. and we'll take you to the site of israel's massive air strike. cnn has the only western reporter inside damascus and syria right now. help the gulf recover, and learn from what happened so we could be a better, safer energy company. i've been with bp for 24 years. i was part of the team that helped deliver on our commitments to the gulf - and i can tell you, safety is at the heart of everything we do.

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a decade. the man who helped rescue them is an internet sensation. we have the only western reporter following the syrian military's every move. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." it's an unmojable nightmare that lasted a decade. three young women allegedly held captive by three brothers in a house in cleveland. the story exploded with their bold escape, and now the investigation is quickly unfolding. among the latest developments, police and fbi are searching the house right now. in the last few minutes, we've been told they removed an item, including a guitar, an amplifier, multiple black trash bags as well. and police have released mug shots of the three brothers arrested in the case. ariel, pedro and o'neal castro.

they could be charged as early as tomorrow. young us now from cleveland, a neighbor of ariel castro. one of the suspects in this case. thanks very much for coming in. i'm told that your sister noticed something extraordinary back in 2011, at your neighbor's house. is that true? >> yes, it is true. >> what did she see? >> she came home. she said it was about 10:30. she came home, she was terrified. she said she heard and seen a child and a white girl holding a child up in a window, pounding on a window like she needed help. she said, i think we need some help. there's something inside ariel's house. i said, ariel lives by himself. there's plywood on all the windows and plastic across all the windows, dark plastic. so i walked back to the house, and i called the police, maybe 20, 30 minutes, they pulled up.

they approached ariel's house, knocked on the door, hard times. there was no response. they walked into the driveway and looked all around. they can't see [ bleep ]. they didn't see nothing, so they got back in the car, and went up on their way. >> that was the last of that incident. after that, did you ever have any more suspicions, did your sister have any more suspicions that something not so good was happening at that house? >> well, my sister always kept on telling me, you should watch the kids around ariel. i said, he's a school bus driver. i don't think he's that type of person. but it turns out that he was, you know. that's the sick thing about it, me thinking that i got a good neighbor and i didn't even know my neighbor that i thought i knew. >> so you were shocked by this news, because you've known him, what, for 18 years? >> yes, i've known him for 18

years. the thing about it, i see ariel sunday at the park right down the street and he was with the little girl. i was at the park with my daughter and that was the first time i asked the little girl's face. i asked, whose daughter is it? she said, it's my girl's daughter. i didn't pay any attention. the next day, i see two of my neighbors pulling out the same little child i see at the park. she came out screaming there's two more -- there's more girls upstairs in the house. so when my neighbor proceeded to go back in, that's when police officers started pulling up. >> did you ever go inside that house? >> when i was a child, yes. when he bought it, no. he was really strict on that. like you was not passing the -- you can't pass this gate, you know what i'm saying? we never asked. i guess it's because i respect people's property. he never allowed people to go up on his property. >> did you ever meet his

brothers o'neal or pedro? >> i knew pedro since i was 5 years old. i can't even believe that man had something to do with it. because he was like a real -- i don't know what happened to him. he turned around and started hitting the bottle a couple of times, drinking alcohol. but it's a real mess. all three brothers. the thing about it, i never seen all three brothers there. ariel lived by himself. i don't know how they got in there, or how they left. because there's somebody out here always playing with the kids, or somebody out here. how they did it, it was very sneaky how they did it. >> what about ariel? when was the last time you spoke with him? >> i spoke to ariel, as i told you, on sunday, literally, two days ago. he was at the park with the girl, that came out of the house yesterday. like i said, i talked to him sunday. he looked like a father and daughter day, buying pastry,

eating. i was talking to my neighbor, moses, like i said, it's heartbreaking, to believe someone that you took as a friend, that you thought he was your neighbor, turned out to be a monster. >> and his little girl is the 6-year-old who's amanda berry's daughter, is that the little girl you saw on sunday? >> yes, that's the little girl i saw sunday. which literally blew my mind when i seen her in the middle of my street, inside her mom's arms. and i didn't even know if that was amanda berry. but i knew who the little girl was, because i seen her the day before that. >> you knew the little girl lived in that house. describe her to us. what was she like? >> i really didn't know that the little girl lived in the house. because every sunday, we would see him drive up the street, and that little girl would be -- but we couldn't see the little girl, because he had the windows tinted. sunday, i see the little girl. she's maybe about 2 1/2, about

2 1/2 feet tall. beautiful little girl, black hair, short. sunday she had a little dress on. a white cap with a pair of khakis. and they looked like a family, you know what i'm saying? you wouldn't imagine somebody like this would do something like this to anybody. it's unbelievable. >> that was amanda berry's daughter, apparently. what a story. what an awful story. how are you doing? are you still shaken by all of this? >> we're all shaken down here. neighbor that lives around here, we're all family. bloodline family, you know what i'm saying? if you ain't bloodline, we'll make you family. it's a horrific thing, but it's a good ending to it. >> how is your sister doing? your sister spotted something inappropriate earlier. you called the police. they showed up, knocked on the door, didn't do anything. how is your sister dealing with

this? >> that's why she, my sister, she's really a wreck right now. that's one of the reasons she keeps her kids in the yard, you know what i'm saying? there's a reason for everything. and for what he did there, i wish i knew, so i could explain it to you. but it's mind-boggling, like my neighbor, in my own backyard, walking past this house for the last ten, 12 years, it doesn't make no sense at all. >> it certainly doesn't. israel, thank you very much for joining us. please give your sister our best, best wishes and we hope everyone comes out of this okay. we really appreciate your thoughts. >> thank you, sir, for everything. we're just getting this in from the cleveland police -- or cleveland fbi spokesperson, vicky anderson. she said these three suspects,

pedro castro, ariel castro and o'neal castro will be interviewed by federal and local law enforcement. vicky anderson says locally they may be included -- they may be interviewed by cleveland's sex crimes units. and points out formal charges may be delayed slightly beyond the 36 hours mentioned earlier by authorities, mentioned at tuesday morning's press conference. that's what we're getting interviews with the fbi. and local law enforcement tomorrow. the cleveland story certainly has created an instant hero. we're taking a closer look at the man who heard the cries for help, and rescued one of the kidnapped women. >> so i go -- i'm on expert on softball.

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president obama says while he has evidence chemical weapons have been used inside syria, he can't make decisions or organize international coalitions based on what he calls the perceived crossing of a red line. we're going to have more from the president in a moment. but we're also getting our first look at the area hit by israel's weekend air strikes near damascus. cnn's fred plankton is the only western journalist in damascus right now. >> reporter: the explosions lit up the night sky for hours. set off by israeli air strikes on syrian military facilities. two days later, the town surrounding one base that was hit are getting back to normal. they are clearing the debris. this man, who would only give his first name, mohammed,

witnessed the attack and said he's never been more terrified. we were sleeping in our homes, he said, then we heard the explosions and the windows and doors blew out and some people were injured by that. then we ran out and saw the fire coming from the sky. residents show us badly damaged buildings and say people were killed when roofs and houses collapsed, including an entire family of six. it was not just one explosion, this man tells me, it was many. and it took a long time. something like three hours the fire was going. it's still unclear what the targets were. syria's government said it was a military research facility. but u.s. officials say it was a storage area for weapons destined for hezbollah, a lebanese shiite militia. the area here is littered with munitions, mostly small-caliber bullets. i want to show you something interesting. because the ground here is

littered with military hardware, with ammunition. some of it actually hasn't been spent. you can tell this bullet has not been fired. a lot of the other ones haven't been fired either. it seems as though there was a big explosion over there, and then a lot of this stuff was blown over here, and landed on the ground. some local pro-government forces tell us the munitions came from caches militias use here for self-defense and not from the base. but others say they rained down from the sky after the air strikes. this quiet town had been spared the worst of syria's conflict. sunday's strikes were a sudden and shocking introduction to what now threatens to become a regional war. cnn, syria. >> syria's situation over there. there's a new sex scandal over at the pentagon that's unfolding. an officer has been arrested on a sex charge. what the president has just said about that. everybody has different investment objectives,

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live pictures from outside the home of gina dejesus, one of the three women rescued last night. she was reported missing at the age of 14. she's now 23. she's been missing since april of 2004. you see law enforcement outside the home. family and friends of the three women found alive after a decade in custody, they are calling this nothing short of a miracle. listen to what some of them are saying. >> it's just so surreal right now. it's unbelievable. i just can't believe this, after

all these years. right down the street, my grandmother's house. i'm sorry. >> how difficult is this for you? always wondering what happened. >> very difficult. i never forgot about her ever. i remember looking for her, asking around. >> i thought about her every day. i knew she would come home. >> we missed you. we cried. we shed tears. but you're here. everything is okay. everything is going to be okay. we can't wait for you to come home. we missed you. i love you, baby! >> there are few people who know firsthand what it's like to be abducted. elizabeth smart is one of them. last hour, i spoke with her and asked her how hard it is to readjust after such a horrible ordeal. >> it's different for everyone. for me, it was great because i

have such a supportive family. i have such a wonderful community. i've had so many blessings in my life. for me, i felt like it came quickly, came quickly and time really does heal so much. >> certainly does. so what advice would you have for these three women in cleveland? >> first of all, i want them to know that nothing that has happened to them will ever diminish their value and it should never hold them back from doing what they want to do. they should still follow their dreams, follow the life that they wanted to have. they should still be able to have that. i always want them to know that they don't need to ever feel pressured into saying anything. take as much time as they need. and if they decide never to share their story, that would be okay, too. >> elizabeth smart with some good advice. we're going to have more on this story coming up, including a report on the hero who helped break this and rescue those

three women. president obama's anger clearly showed this afternoon as he declared that as commander in chief he has no tolerance for sexual assault in the u.s. military. this follows the shocking disclosure the u.s. air force officer in charge of preventing sexual assaults was arrest on a sex charge. let's bring in our pentagon correspondent chris lawrence working the story for us. pretty shocking stuff, chris. >> reporter: this arrest con have come at a worse time for the pentagon, who is already dealing with an increase in the numbers of reported sexual assaults. sexual assaults in the military are going up. not down. and this has become the face of the pentagon's inability to stop it. >> this is a mug shot of jeffrey krusinski. >> reporter: the lieutenant colonel was the head of the air force's sexual assault prevention program. police arrested him sunday in this parking lot about a mile away from the pentagon. they say krusinski grabbed a

woman's breasts and buttocks, then scuffled as she fought him off. >> the best and the brightest the air force has to offer, to run this office, and he's a sexual predator? is that what we're talking about? >> reporter: it all sounds familiar to former sailor jenny mcclendon, who says she was assaulted while serving on a navy destroyer. >> i was being groped. i was being harassed. i was being forcibly kissed. and eventually it escalated into full-on rape. >> reporter: now a married mother of four, mcclendon says she was called a feminazi for reporting the assaults, which broke her trust in fellow troops. >> and you don't know who's more dangerous to you, the person fighting next to you or the person shooting at you. >> reporter: new statistics show reported sexual assaults have gone up 6% in the last year. and the pentagon estimates as many as 26,000 troops may have been assaulted last year and did not report it.

>> i will support them, and we're not going to tolerate this. >> reporter: president obama ordered pentagon officials to punish anyone found guilty. >> court-martial. fire. dishonorably discharged. period. >> reporter: the latest revelations have pushed pentagon officials to a crisis point. >> this department may be nearing a stage where the frequency of this crime and the perception that there is tolerance of it could very well undermine our ability to effectively carry out the mission -- >> reporter: strong words. and i reached out to the colonel who was arrested just a few minutes ago, called his cell phone, got a voicemail message but have not heard back. cnn has also reached out to his attorney, but so far, wolf, no comment. >> pretty shocking stuff there, too. all right, chris lawrence. thank you. the man who was instrumental in ending the kidnapped women's ordeal in cleveland is becoming an overnight sensation. jeanne moos will show us why. i am an american success story.

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overnight sensation because of the cleveland kidnapping story. >> reporter: calls everybody bro from reporters interviewing him. >> bro, not a clue! >> reporter: to the 911 dispatcher. >> yeah, hey bro. >> reporter: and now everybody wants to be his bro. "this guy is ten types of awesome." awesome if his story about helping with the rescue holds up. >> i see this girl going nuts. >> reporter: awesome for how he described the suspect. >> i barbecued with this dude. we eat ribs and whatnot and listen to salsa music. you see where i'm coming are from? >> reporter: his quotes like the ones about the suspect's testicular fortitude have been immortalized on the web and the ultimate internet accolade. his interviews have been autotuned. ♪ something is wrong here >> reporter: even when he was about to swear then substituted the word stuff for the s word. >> no, because i would have pulled this heroic -- stuff last year. >> reporter: he got a pat on the back. >> thank you for restraining yourself. >> reporter: charles "chuck"

ramsey is a dishwasher at a cleveland restaurant. his newfound fans want to give him money. they've raised over $500 with a goal of $10,000. other admirers started a petition to get charles invited to the white house for a beer with the president. but there was one charles ramsey line in particular that brought down the house. whether the house was the floor crew of a morning news show -- >> i knew something was wrong when a little pretty white girl ran into a black man's arms. something is wrong here. >> you heard it straight from mr. ramsey. >> reporter: or the studio audience of "the view." >> when a little pretty white girl ran into a black man's arms, something is wrong here. [ laughter ] [ applause ] >> reporter: comedian patton oswalt tweeted, "dear charles ramsey, i am not a little pretty white girl, but i totally want to run into your black arms. #hero." some are even saying mcdonald's should treat charles to some free mickey d's because of all the publicity he's given the

chain. >> went to mcdonald's, came home -- >> heard her screaming. i'm eating my mcdonald's. >> reporter: next thing you know mcdonald's is saluting the courage of the kidnap victims, tweeting "way to go, charles ramsey. we'll be in touch." who doesn't want a touch of chuck? at least until a second rescuer claimed chuck isn't on the up and up with his version. >> me break the door. not him. ♪ i knew something was wrong, when a little pretty white girl ran into a black man's arms ♪ >> reporter: jeanne moos, cnn, new york. >> i want to thank all -- charles ramsey on behalf of all of us for the heroic work that he did in fact do. those three women are now safe in part thanks to him. thank you, charles ramsey. i'll be back tomorrow morning 11:30 a.m. eastern. we're going to have special coverage of the hearings up on capitol hill on the benghazi events. what happened when the u.s. ambassador and three other americans were killed?

we'll have special coverage coming up tomorrow here on cnn, starting at 11:30 a.m. eastern. remember, you can always follow us going on in the situation room on twitter. @wolfblitzer. @cnnsitroom. thanks very much for watching. erin burnett "outfront" starts erin burnett "outfront" starts right now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com "outfront" next, the latest on the miracle escape of three women in ohio. we're going to tell you what we're just learning about the men who allegedly abducted them. a sergeant in the middle of the investigation joining us. plus, what we know about the three women. there are so many questions about them. lost for more than a decade. how they ended up in this nightmare. and investigators are currently exploring the house that the three were held in. and we're going to tell you what the inside of that house actually looks like tonight. let's go "outfront."